We Are Family.

"Keeping it in the family is, it seems, a motto that unites Scottish MPs from all parties. Under new rules introduced after the Derek Conway scandal, MPs were last month forced to declare in the Register of Members' Interests whether or not they employed family members. Twelve of the 59 Scottish MPs did so. Last week another four added their names to the list. Scottish Office minister David Cairns employs his cousin Angela Moore as a caseworker and Labour MP Brian Donohoe employs his wife Christine as an "executive secretary" – which could give her a salary of up to £40,052. Another Labour MP, Jim Sheridan, employs his daughter Joanne as a caseworker while SNP sleazebuster Angus MacNeil employs his wife Jane as a caseworker on a salary of up to £25,195. SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson had already listed his wife Carron Anderson as his "senior caseworker" on a salary of up to £29,716."

On Expenses.

Courtesy of Drumlanrig again, "One of the biggest problems in the row over MPs' expenses is the lack of written rules. But one Scottish MP told Drumlanrig he had discovered that one thing for which members cannot claim is funeral wreaths. And another, Norman Baker, was furious to discover that a couple of his requests had been refused. "It's absurd that you can be reimbursed for buying a goldfish bowl, while my claims for a bicycle and a computer – things that help me with my work – were turned down," the MP harrumphed."

Peer-less.

Mr Smith reads the latest "expense" disclosures for some of the Scottish members of the House of Lords.

"LORD Foulkes, the bombastic Labour peer and MSP, has clocked up £62,509 in tax-free expenses as an "unpaid" member of the House of Lords. The former Scotland Office minister and government loyalist said most of his expenses were down to high travel costs. Although Lord Foulkes of Cumnock is now an MSP, the expenses for the House of Lords are until April 2007; a month before his election to the Scottish Parliament ... Lord Watson, since his early release from jail in May last year for arson, has managed to bill £31,932 in expenses. It is almost three years since the then Labour MSP set alight the curtains at a hotel in Edinburgh ... Since his release, he has voted in just 18 per cent of divisions - lower than average. Also billing a hefty sum in expenses was Lord Elder, formerly known as Murray Elder, former chief of staff to John Smith. He picked up £52,563 in expenses for his 128-day attendance. His voting record of 74 per cent, however, was much higher than most peers. The man in charge of probing the overspend on the new Scottish Parliament - Lord Fraser of Carmyllie - himself managed to spend £49,113. His office costs of £10,209 for 124 days exceeded the daily limit of £69. His fellow Tory peer, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, attended for just 99 days and claimed £32,957 in expenses. He managed to speak in 53 debates, however, more than most peers. Lord Steel of Aikwood, the former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, has cost taxpayers £50,035."

And all tax-free. Good to have sight of the information for a change though.

On expenses.

So, Labour MP for Aberdeen North Frank Doran MP, claimed over one hundred and seventy thousand pounds in expenses in the last financial year, topping the list of expenses claimed by Scotland's 59 Westminster MPs, with the Speaker of the House, Michael Martin MP, perhaps unsurprisingly bringing up the rear of the political Scotia Nostra with a more modest claim.

Now Mr Smith has no problem with MPs making claims for running constituency offices or even having to fly back and forth to London and beyond, but he is concerned at the lack of transparency in the process governing how MPs spend public money, by for example by employing family members, claiming for London accommodation, which they then sell on making a tidy profit, and even making the odd undetailed car mileage claim.

The public scrutiny is welcomed, but we need more information to make an informed judgement about what our elected representatives are up to.